Comanche County, Oklahoma

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County will replace old bridge on Southwest Bishop Road

COMANCHE COUNTY, OK (KSWO) - A bridge that is more than 70 years old is set to be replaced. It's located at Post Oak Creek on Southwest Bishop Road. It was approved on Monday by the Comanche County Commissioners.It's been in the planning stages for 5 years.

County Commissioner Don Hawthrone said they had several steps to complete before it was approved by the board. They had to select engineers, create a design, conduct an environmentalsurvey, and make sure there is no utilities lines in the way. The bridge is about 70 years old and is in bad shape.

Driving down Southwest Bishop Road you will come across a low water crossing at Post Oak Creek.

"Its just deteriorating we need to do something to it," said Hawthorne.

District 3 County Commissioner Don Hawthorne said commissioners began developing a plan to replace the crossing with a bridge several years ago."We have a 5 year plan and each district, eastern, and western district has a 5 year plan and when it come up to put a bridge on that plan we selected this one because of the shape that it is in, and a lot of traffic that goes over it," said Hawthorne.

Over the past few years workers have patched it up, but Hawthorne said that's not enough, when it rains the crossing becomes swept under water.

" In 2015 this whole bottom flooded, this whole area flooded, a lot of people had to evacuate of course the bridge is not going to prevent that it will just keep people from going through low water crossing just make it safe for when water is running down the Post Oak Creek," said Hawthorne.

The new bridge will cost 864,000 dollars.

"This money comes from a special fund that has been set up by the legislature and derived from the registration of vehicles..Motor Vehicles and it is put into the fund," said Hawthorne.

The new bridge will be much safer for drivers.

"In the years past it wasn't as many people populated in the rural area and so we were not quite as concerned with traffic and as you can see from the bride its deteriorating quite a bit and we just felt from the safety of people that live out here," said Hawthorne.

Hawthorne said now that everything is finalized they will be construction next year and it will only take about a month before its complete.Construction crews will build a temporary bypass, so drivers can still use southwest Bishop Road.

He adds they will also be working on 4 other bridges across the county in the next few years.

Copyright 2017 KSWO. All rights reserved.

District 3: Road and Bridge Report

Don Hawthorne, County Commissioner

What’s normal weather in Oklahoma? This is the sixth spring since I have been in office and each spring has been different. Every week we have had heavy enough rains somewhere in the District that some road work is needed to bring them back into shape. This has put us behind in our mowing.

This also took time away from getting to the roads that are on our list to oil and chip and puts us behind on our planned projects. However, as reported earlier, last fall we have recycled McIntosh Road from State Highway 59 to Chibitty Road and north on Chibitty to the dead end.

Also, we have entered into a joint project with the Comanche Nation Transportation Department to oil and chip Madische Road from McIntosh Road to the dead end. They will pay for the materials and the tinhorns.

We have a joint project with Comanche County District 1, and Comanche Nation to oil and chip Hurst Road from State Highway 36 four miles south. The first two miles are in District 1 and the second two miles are in our District. The Comanche Nation is paying for the materials and the two districts are sharing in getting the road ready and oiling and chipping it.

Other roads on our plans to resurface this year are Indiahoma Road from Woodlawn Road to the Baseline Road. We already have a mile of the three miles ready. If time and weather permits we plan to resurface Holsey Acres Road from Cache Road to the Post Oak Creek bridge and Deyo Mission Road from Lee Blvd to Coombs Road.

We are still waiting on the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Anadarko to sign off on the Indian land that is needed for the additional right of way so the new bridge on Airport Road can be built. All the additional right of way needed on the east side has been purchased and fortunately all the utilities are on that side and have been moved. We were hoping to get the new bridge completed before the start of the school year because school busses have to be rerouted around the mile of Airport Rd. The BIA has held up this project for over a year.

The bridge to replace the low water crossing over Post Oak Creek on Bishop Road is progressing. The environmental study has been completed, and the bridge design plan has been developed and Pinnacle, the company we have hired to accrue the right of way, is in the process of finalizing the agreements with the landowners. The next step will be to move the utilities and then construction will be possible next year.

We are adding a new bridge to our 5-year plan for approval by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. This bridge is on Airport Road over Persimmon Creek and is located southwest of Faxon. The only catch is the Legislature keeps raiding the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges fund (CIRB) to balance the state’s budget shortfall. Over the past four years the Legislature has taken over $170 million from this fund and put a cap on it reducing the amount of money that can go into it.

The other two bridges on our 5-year plan are the truss bridge over West Cache Creek on Cache Road and the bridge on Rock Creek on Cache Road.

Billy Bigbow and Tyler Fletcher attended a road building and repair seminar in Chickasha sponsored by Ergon. The day long course covered the types and causes of road damage, how to fix them, and the types of oils and application on chip sealing roads.

Kenny Kinder, Road Foremen attended the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma (ACCO) safety meeting on April 6-7, 2017.

If you have questions or concerns, I can be contacted at
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or you may phone the County Barn at 580-429-3217 or the Courthouse office at 580-353-3717.